Barclays on U.S. Department Stores/Broadlines: March Sales Preview

Barclays on U.S. Department Stores/Broadlines: March Sales Preview

Barclays analyst says, "Target (NYSE: TGT), BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ), Costco (Nasdaq: COST), Kohl's (NYSE: KSS), J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP), Saks (NYSE: SKS), Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), Macy's (NYSE: M), and Stage Stores (NYSE: SSI) will report March sales results on Thursday, April 7."

"Ahead of these results, we are raising our Barclays Capital Broadlines/Dept. Stores Same Store-Sales Index estimate for March to (0.8)% from (2.1)% compared with an 11.3% increase last year. The increase in our index is attributable to our expectations for higher comps for Costco and BJ's Wholesale Club, due to a larger benefit from gas prices, as well as our expectations for continued solid momentum at Macy's and Nordstrom, despite the Easter shift. We are raising our estimate for Costco to 6%-8% from 3%-5%, our estimate for BJ's to 0%-2% from (1)%-1%, our estimate for Macy's to (1)%-(3)% from (2)%-(4)%, and our estimate for Nordstrom to 1%-3% from (2)%-(4)%."

"We believe overall sales were solid in March; however, we expect the shift of Easter into April out of March, as well as tough comparisons last year, to have a negative impact on this month's results...We are maintaining our estimate for an 11.8% increase in our index in April."

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